It is a privilege and an honour to read this

books:

	• Strangers in the House: Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine Raja Shehadeh Penguin (Non-Classics), 2003 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 12 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Moving Story

Two stories interwoven into one poetic narrative. The story of the author's relationship with his father is enmeshed in the greater story of his people falling under Israeli occupation. There is much tension in this book: the tension of defending political prisoners subjected to torture in Israeli jails; the tension resulting from the author's choice not to follow in his father's footsteps and concentrate on human rights work rather than law practice; the tension from the destruction of land by the occupation and the erection of settlements. In the end, the two narratives unite as the the author's efforts to find his father's murderer are frustrated because of the occupation. A sad and moving human story, has much to tell for people everywhere.

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A Courageous Man

Shehadeh's book is perhaps the only one to lay out the multi-faceted nature of the Israeli-Palestinian-Arab conflict. Or, as Shehadeh, puts it so eloquently a conflict between Palestinians, Israelis, the "inside" and the "outside".

For me, the most touching moment of the book came when the young Shehadeh heard the PLO radio denounce his father for daring to work for a two-state solution. "A.S.," it declared, "you are a traitor, a despicable collaborator. You want to surrender and sell your birthright. We know how to deal with the likes of you. A. S. you shall pay for your treason. We shall eliminate you. Silence you forever. Traitor. Collaborator. Quisling."

The PLO quite simply could not afford to lose the funding it received from the surrounding Arab states to create a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians and also to ensure that Israel would no longer "be the subject of fiery speeches in which the people's rage could be articulated and released-they would be distracted from dealing with all that was wrong at home."

The PLO simply could not afford peace because it wasn't being paid to bring about either peace or an independent Palestinian State; it was being paid to keep the Palestinians miserable and angry. To ensure that the Palestinian plight remained a distraction for the Arabs earning for democracy.

Shehadeh's father dared to stand up to the PLO and its backers. He was murdered.

And now, his son is carrying on his father's work.

It is our job to make sure that Raja's life lasts longer than his father's.

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An important perspective

This is an excellent look into occupation and the way it affects those under occupation. The Palestinian voice is one seldom heard by the West which is why this work is so very important. To often it seems as if the Israeli/Palestinian narrative is simply scripted for us by those outside of the conflict so that we form conclusions without actually knowing the story from those who are living it.

One of the things I really liked about this book is that it is not a one sided harangue about the horrible Israelis and how bad the occupation is and how the Palestinians are simply victims, but is instead a telling indictment of both sides. The author sees the plethora of missed opportunities that have plagued the Palestinians since the creation of the state of Israel. The Palestinians so often seemed content to simply play the role of victims rather than actually take responsibility for their own lives and move forward to build a functioning society. Many times they waited to be saved by neighboring states, the UN and others without realizing that they are the only ones who can save themselves. They have allowed themselves, under terrible circumstances granted, to stagnate instead pushing forward.

The Israeli occupation and government shoulders a heavy burden of blame for the situation also. They have made Palestinian life so difficult that it was almost impossible for a positive, healthy society to erect itself in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel had a choice between taking more land and helping to create a stable neighbor or expanding their territory. They chose the latter and so chose perpetual strife. The animosity runs so deep now that even if a solution could be found it will be generations before the hate and anger can be healed.

Neither side is innocent in this conflict, and both sides are guilty for the current situation. This book shows how even a moderate can be pushed into becoming radical. I think one of the most poignant aspects of this book is that from the beginning there is always this hope. Hope that one day the land will be restored to the Palestinians. Hope that there will be peace. Hope that a decent life will be able to be lived. There is always this hope until the end of the book when the author finally backs the intifada. I felt as though the author had lost hope in moderate, peaceful solution. The whole book seemed to be a moderate man attempting to find a compromise solution to the problem. He fought both sides for the middle and end the end recognized the futility. Both sides have done so much to create futility out of hope.

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It is a privilege and an honour to read this

I was at first taken aback by the way Palestinian lawyer and writer Raja Shehadeh chose to begin this book, his memoir. Knowing that he is a very important figure in Palestine, I expected (even half-dreaded) a right-on plunge in the middle of Israeli/Middle-Eastern politics. I was wrong.

Although he begins by mentioning the 1948 war as a fact that explains his having been born in Ramallah and not Jaffa, where his family was very important, that's just about it.....in the beginning. We are treated then to a delicately rendered description of the writer's childhood: to a vision of the almost sad figure of a fragile child whose life seems always measured against the looming and powerful figure of his father (a very important Palestinian lawyer), and the impossible to reach lights and colours of neverland-Jaffa, the way of life that the family had lost forever.

It is the relationship with the father, however, what soon becomes the focus of this memoir. And here we must admire one of the most important aspects of the book: an honest-to-God account of how this boy, then young man, then adult, managed his growing, changing relationship with a strong and powerful father. I was swept from my feet at having such a first hand description of a never-easy son/father relationship. I must confess I was astounded that this incredibly sincere testimony was rendered by an Arab man since, as the same author acknowledges, his is a culture where the son/father bond tends to be quite distant, formal and formidable.

We, readers, see how having such an important father proves to be a load, but also a challenge for the author. And as he begins to be more sure about what his place in the world is, and what his mission is, the world of politics (which had never quite disappeared from the background) returns with force, but in such a way that provokes a fatal crisis in this already difficult son/father relationship. And just as the situation appears to be unbearable, just as the breach seems impossible to mend......Raja's father is murdered.

Here the book takes an abrupt turn. Raja decides to help as much as he can to find the murderer, whom he believes to be someone involved in a land dispute his father was working on. He is good. The pace and tempo of the narrative change so that we begin to feel the urge to know who this murderer is, for we are much pretty sure of why the murder took place......and I won't spoil the ending for you. I'll just say that it is important. Very important. For Raja and for all of us.

Just as this seemingly humble book is terribly important: as the personal memoir of a man who has always been politically moderate, a fighter for human rights, one of the few Palestinians who has ever dared to criticise the politics of the Palestinian leaders and of the Arab leaders; one of the few who was always convinced that Arabs had to negotiate with Israeli, that Israel was there to stay; as a honest, moving homage to a father who was a powerful force in the author's life (and who taught him to see politics and the Middle-East the way he saw it);..... as a way to know more about that rarely-found-in-the-news-and-media specimen: the Arab, Palestinian moderate, and the way he fares.

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Eye-opening

As an American, I have grown up to believe that Israel is a close friend to us. I would imagine that an ally of the United States would be a country that follows human rights guidelines. However, I was mistaken. "Strangers in the House" is a brilliantly written piece which provides personal experiences in an occupied Palestine. With all of the conflict in the Middle East currently, it is a must-read, to understand the viewpoint from all angles. Raja Shehadeh thinks way past his time, as his father had. He has written this book for the world to know what daily life is like under occupation and that it is a constant struggle. Mr. Shehadeh is admirable in his open-mindedness. If you would like to see the viewpoint from the other side, this book is perfect. It will help you open your mind and see the truth.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

This revealing story of a father-son relationship, the first memoir of its kind by a Palestinian living in the Occupied Territories, is set against the backdrop of Middle East hostilities and more than thirty years under military occupation. Marked by a sense of loss and impermanence and embroiled in political conflict, it is the family drama of a difficult relationship between an idealistic son and his politically active father-Aziz Shehadeh, who, in 1967, was the first Palestinian to advocate a peaceful, two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian dispute-a situation further complicated by the arbitrary humiliations of living under the occupier's law. Above all, it is a moving description of the daily lives of those who have chosen to remain on their land.

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